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Friday, 20 April 2012

To fake cheese or not to fake cheese

I like pizza without cheese. I don't feel like anything is missing. The only time I am conscious of omitting the cheese is when I order pizza out and get strange looks from the person serving me. A waitress actually said to me once, "Well, you can get it without cheese, but, like, what's the point?"

Having said that, when I saw Notzarella on the Cruelty Free Shop website I knew I had to try it on pizza. And I'm so glad I did! The Notzarella added a delicious saltiness and flavour to an otherwise simple pizza and it melted really well.

The Notzarella itself has a mild taste, quite similar to what I remember mozzarella tasting like. I've tasted a few vegan cheeses and not been a fan, but I like this one. It is not at all rubbery like some of the others. Next I might try it melted on toast...

I was happy with way the base of this pizza turned out, especially because I had to quickly come up with a recipe using only one sachet of yeast because that's all I had in the house! It is halfway between a thin crust and a thick fluffy one.

Vegan Pizza with Cheese (makes 2 pizzas)

Base

1 sachet instant yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water, approx

3 cups plain white flour

1 cup wholemeal spelt flour

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Topping

2 cups mushrooms, approx

half a red capsicum

half an onion

tomato paste, about one heaped tbs per pizza

sprinkle of dried oregano

Notzarella, grated or other vegan cheeses that melt would work too (I used about 3/4 of the packet)

To make base, stir together yeast and half a cup of warm water in a small bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes. Mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the oil and a little less than 1 cup of warm water to the yeast mixture, and then stir it all into the flour mixture. If a little dry add a touch more water, if too wet add a bit more flour but note that the mix does look a bit dry to start with - it comes together when you knead it. Cover surface with a bit of flour and knead dough for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Rub a bit of oil around the lump of dough and set aside in a covered bowl, preferably in a warm place, for around an hour.

Preheat oven to 220 C.

To prepare the topping, slice the veggies for the pizza - I use a mandolin slicer so they are nice and thin.

Once dough has risen, punch it down (best bit) and divide into two pieces. Roll each out into circles and place on pizza trays. Spread on the tomato paste and sprinkle on oregano. Add mushrooms, onion and capsicum. Sprinkle cheese over the top.